26 Feb Writing and Recording Songs: Starting Small

When I first started playing guitar and starting to write and record music, I had no where near the amount of gear that I now have today, not that I have a ton of gear now but I have a fair amount. And I’m always expanding. You never stop buying gear. It’s an addiction.

But anyways, all I had was my strat clone electric guitar, a crappy practice amp, and my broken falling apart laptop. But that didn’t stop me from trying to write and record songs. I figured out ways to get my ideas down and get going. I didn’t have any professional microphones or an Audio Interface either. But what I did have was a Rock Band USB microphone. So what I would do is set the mic up next to my amp speaker, arm a track in Mixcraft (The first DAW I started using and still use along with a few others), and started recording my song ideas.

The sound quality was pretty much what you would expect. Crap. Especially since I knew nothing about miking guitar amps, clipping, or setting levels. But it allowed me to get my ideas down and start to get into recording. It allowed me to start learning the DAW software I was using and how to construct songs with in it. And it allowed me to get my ideas down, then later mess with them and edit the structure to give myself a different way of arranging my new creations.

From then, I started amassing my collection of gear, piece by piece, finding the best deals I could on Craigslist, Ebay, and GuitarCenter.com. I got a new guitar, quality microphones, additional DAW software, plugins, reference monitors, studio headphones, keyboards, etc etc.

The point is use what you got if you have to. You don’t need to necessarily go out and spend a ton of cash to start writing and recording songs. You can start small, learn, and then build your collection of gear as your needs see fit. The most important thing, if you’re just starting out and writing your own songs, is to get your ideas down. So again, use what you have and start having some fun!

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